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Author Topic: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)  (Read 2180 times)

buggyglint

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Hi There,

Is there any way to configure JRiver theater view to when selecting a song, to default to replace playing all? Essentially eliminating the need to select the song and then selecting "Play All".

Similar to this option in general options but only requiring one press of the enter key or select/ok button on media remote (Harmony).

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RoderickGI

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2019, 07:57:11 pm »

The "Play All" function in Theatre View works based on what you have selected. You can select at a grouping level.

Select an Artist, arrow up twice, arrow right to "Play All" and select it. MC adds all tracks for the Artist to Playing Now.
Select an Album, arrow up twice, arrow right to "Play All" and select it. MC adds all tracks on the Album to Playing Now.
Select a Genre, arrow up twice, arrow right to "Play All" and select it. MC adds all tracks in the Genre to Playing Now.
Select a Composer, arrow up twice, arrow right to "Play All" and select it. MC adds all tracks for the Composer to Playing Now.

That is pretty neat functionality.

So what were you trying to play all of? Artist, Album, Composer, Genre, Highly Rate, Recents, etc.? Of course that is configurable as well.
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What specific version of MC you are running:MC27.0.27 @ Oct 27, 2020 and updating regularly Jim!                        MC Release Notes: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Release_Notes
What OS(s) and Version you are running:     Windows 10 Pro 64bit Version 2004 (OS Build 19041.572).
The JRMark score of the PC with an issue:    JRMark (version 26.0.52 64 bit): 3419
Important relevant info about your environment:     
  Using the HTPC as a MC Server & a Workstation as a MC Client plus some DLNA clients.
  Running JRiver for Android, JRemote2, Gizmo, & MO 4Media on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium Android 9.
  Playing video out to a Sony 65" TV connected via HDMI, playing digital audio out via motherboard sound card, PCIe TV tuner

buggyglint

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2019, 10:27:51 am »

I don't disagree that it's a nice feature, what I'm trying to play is just a single song from an album, it would be nice if when selecting to playing a song from an album, the following from the album will play without having to then select play-all after selecting the initial song.

Also, is there a way to always redirect the current view to the "Playing Now" view in theater mode when a song is played from a certain zone. So for instance, I choose a song to play on my JRemote app and it pops-up on the "Playing Now" on my TV, currently I have to browse to the "Playing Now" each time.
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RoderickGI

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2019, 07:28:36 pm »

Okay, so in Theatre View, you want to select an Album, drill down to the tracks, select a track, and have all tracks in the Album added to Playing Now, and play from the track you selected. Just like "Play All" does.

Well, if I select "Play All" once in MC, then for all following selections "Play All" becomes the default, rather than just "Play". If I select "Play" once, then "Play" becomes the default.

So once you have selected "Play All" once, MC should default correctly for you. Then for future selections, just hit "Enter, Enter" or "OK, OK", and as you will see, MC defaults to the previous selection on the menu. I don't know of any setting that changes that behaviour. You can check in the "List" view in Theatre View to see what tracks will be played. That view is showing the full Playing Now list, while the "Playing Now" view in Theatre View is just showing the current track.

From Gizmo, "Play All" seems to be the default behaviour. If you are playing from JRemote I don't know what the default behaviour is, but maybe it is configurable.


Redirection:
Options > General > Jump on play (audio).
Options > Theatre View > Jump on play (audio).
Set them to "Theatre View Playing Now". But I see from your image above that you already have that set for the first setting, which applies to Standard View. You just need to set it for the second, for Theatre View.

But that won't be Zone specific. None of those types of settings are Zone specific. I don't have JRemote to test, however, if I use Gizmo to play something on a MC Server, that setting makes MC jump to Playing Now correctly. The Zone doesn't matter, and is controlled by ZoneSwitch if in use, or the Zone already selected on the target Server.
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What specific version of MC you are running:MC27.0.27 @ Oct 27, 2020 and updating regularly Jim!                        MC Release Notes: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Release_Notes
What OS(s) and Version you are running:     Windows 10 Pro 64bit Version 2004 (OS Build 19041.572).
The JRMark score of the PC with an issue:    JRMark (version 26.0.52 64 bit): 3419
Important relevant info about your environment:     
  Using the HTPC as a MC Server & a Workstation as a MC Client plus some DLNA clients.
  Running JRiver for Android, JRemote2, Gizmo, & MO 4Media on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium Android 9.
  Playing video out to a Sony 65" TV connected via HDMI, playing digital audio out via motherboard sound card, PCIe TV tuner

buggyglint

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #4 on: February 22, 2019, 12:34:28 pm »

Quote
Okay, so in Theatre View, you want to select an Album, drill down to the tracks, select a track, and have all tracks in the Album added to Playing Now, and play from the track you selected. Just like "Play All" does.

Well, if I select "Play All" once in MC, then for all following selections "Play All" becomes the default, rather than just "Play". If I select "Play" once, then "Play" becomes the default.

So once you have selected "Play All" once, MC should default correctly for you. Then for future selections, just hit "Enter, Enter" or "OK, OK", and as you will see, MC defaults to the previous selection on the menu. I don't know of any setting that changes that behaviour. You can check in the "List" view in Theatre View to see what tracks will be played. That view is showing the full Playing Now list, while the "Playing Now" view in Theatre View is just showing the current track.

From Gizmo, "Play All" seems to be the default behaviour. If you are playing from JRemote I don't know what the default behaviour is, but maybe it is configurable.

I wish that was the case but in Theater View, it asks me each time to "Play All" when selecting a song from an album. It doesn't remember what I chose previously. :(

Quote
Redirection:
Options > General > Jump on play (audio).
Options > Theatre View > Jump on play (audio).
Set them to "Theatre View Playing Now". But I see from your image above that you already have that set for the first setting, which applies to Standard View. You just need to set it for the second, for Theatre View.

But that won't be Zone specific. None of those types of settings are Zone specific. I don't have JRemote to test, however, if I use Gizmo to play something on a MC Server, that setting makes MC jump to Playing Now correctly. The Zone doesn't matter, and is controlled by ZoneSwitch if in use, or the Zone already selected on the target Server.

This does not work either, I've selected the option, "Theater View Playing Now" in the theater view options and it does not jump to the "Playing Now" view with album art and song progress. Doesn't matter if I play a song from JRemote or JRiver itself.
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RoderickGI

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #5 on: February 22, 2019, 05:10:43 pm »

You still have to hit "Enter, Enter" or "OK, OK", which selects "Play All" on the second press. What MC remembers is that "Play All" was the previous choice, rather than just "Play", which would just play the one track. But you don't have to move the cursor around or think about it. Just hit "Enter, Enter" or "OK, OK". Just selecting one track in an Album is never going to send all songs in that Album to Playing Now and start playback. Most users would tear JRiver a new one! Hence the functionality to select an Album at Album level, then select "Play All" to play the whole Album.

If you really want a one button press "Play All", program a button on your Harmony to send the "Play All" command.


I don't know why the jump to Playing Now doesn't work for you. I tested it quite a few time, plus jump to Display View and a few other things. It worked every time.

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What specific version of MC you are running:MC27.0.27 @ Oct 27, 2020 and updating regularly Jim!                        MC Release Notes: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Release_Notes
What OS(s) and Version you are running:     Windows 10 Pro 64bit Version 2004 (OS Build 19041.572).
The JRMark score of the PC with an issue:    JRMark (version 26.0.52 64 bit): 3419
Important relevant info about your environment:     
  Using the HTPC as a MC Server & a Workstation as a MC Client plus some DLNA clients.
  Running JRiver for Android, JRemote2, Gizmo, & MO 4Media on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium Android 9.
  Playing video out to a Sony 65" TV connected via HDMI, playing digital audio out via motherboard sound card, PCIe TV tuner

wer

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2019, 01:58:47 pm »

If you really want a one button press "Play All", program a button on your Harmony to send the "Play All" command.

What "Play All" command would that be Roderick?  It doesn't seem to exist as a Remote Command, nor as an MCC command.

I'd like to implement the equivalent of the Theater View "Play All" command via remote, but I haven't been able to find a way.  I also tried variations of MCC 26031.

(Apologies to anyone irked by dusting off a somewhat old thread.)
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Absinthe

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2019, 05:57:08 pm »

Well, if I select "Play All" once in MC, then for all following selections "Play All" becomes the default, rather than just "Play". If I select "Play" once, then "Play" becomes the default.

So once you have selected "Play All" once, MC should default correctly for you. Then for future selections, just hit "Enter, Enter" or "OK, OK", and as you will see, MC defaults to the previous selection on the menu. I don't know of any setting that changes that behaviour. You can check in the "List" view in Theatre View to see what tracks will be played. That view is showing the full Playing Now list, while the "Playing Now" view in Theatre View is just showing the current track.
This is how Theater View works in my setup with the exception that I have enabled Tools-Options-General-Start Playing when files are added to Playing Now.  Instead of selecting "Play" I select "Add"
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wer

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2019, 07:29:00 pm »

Absinthe based on my testing, Play all does indeed become the OSD default.  But not for the remote.  Remote code behavior is different.  I've also tried other MCC commands as I said.

The only way I've found to get Play All behavior in Theater View is with the multi-click-OSD method.  Rod said there was a Play All command, so that's why I was asking.

I'm not willing to change the playing now behavior; I don't like how add works.
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RoderickGI

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #9 on: September 08, 2019, 10:11:32 pm »

What "Play All" command would that be Roderick?  It doesn't seem to exist as a Remote Command, nor as an MCC command.

I don't think I tried to provide a complete solution on that issue, as there is an easy workflow that ensures the correct behaviour, using the basic Up/Down/Left/Right/OK buttons.

Depending on the remote you are using, you could program a button to send "Up, Right, OK" to select "Play All" when the current default is "Play", if the cursor is in the correct starting position. I believe that is what I was referring to.

Indeed there is no Remote Control command, and I don't think there is an MCC Command. Maybe one of the commands could be given a parameter to select "Play All", but the workflow using the five simple navigation buttons is so straight forward and obvious that it would probably be used more often than any special programmed Remote Control key.

If the solution was essential, then I would be looking at automation solutions that can screen scrape to read the current position, and then send the correct command sequence to get the desired response. i.e. Either Up,OK, or Up,Right,OK, in simple terms. That solution I'm not going to get into. I don't use automation software.
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What specific version of MC you are running:MC27.0.27 @ Oct 27, 2020 and updating regularly Jim!                        MC Release Notes: https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Release_Notes
What OS(s) and Version you are running:     Windows 10 Pro 64bit Version 2004 (OS Build 19041.572).
The JRMark score of the PC with an issue:    JRMark (version 26.0.52 64 bit): 3419
Important relevant info about your environment:     
  Using the HTPC as a MC Server & a Workstation as a MC Client plus some DLNA clients.
  Running JRiver for Android, JRemote2, Gizmo, & MO 4Media on a Sony Xperia XZ Premium Android 9.
  Playing video out to a Sony 65" TV connected via HDMI, playing digital audio out via motherboard sound card, PCIe TV tuner

wer

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Re: Theater View - Default action for selecting a song (Replace playing all)
« Reply #10 on: September 08, 2019, 10:41:22 pm »

Thanks for confirming the command doesn't exist, Rod.

The starting position you mentioned is key: Programming a multi-key sequence (like up-right-enter-enter) as a macro is a non-starter though, because any such solution would produce unpredictable and perhaps unrecoverable results if the button is pressed when the cursor is in anything but the perfect position.  A remote button needs to either work or do nothing when pressed.  That would produce random results depending on when it was pressed.

I don't use automation software either. :). Shouldn't have to for this.
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